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“Huh?”

“The expression is that theclient is always right.Jeremy’s well-aware that’s not always the case.He has to balance just how much information gets out.Just who he shares what and with whom.”

“Huh?”I’m so confused.

“He likes you.”She cut another piece.“A lot.”

“Uh, okay.”Hadn’t he implied as much to me?Just…subtle.Little compliments.Which either could have been meant to bolster my self-esteem or to let me know he was interested.

Or both.

“I just…” She stopped slicing.She turned to face me and propped her hip against the counter.“Tell me if I’m off, okay.Or, better yet, tell me to mind my own damn business.”

Nope.I’m way too curious to see where this is going.Perhaps I should’ve exercised some form of self-protection, but I wasn’t feeling threatened.More…intrigued.“Go ahead.”

Slowly, she nodded.“I like you.But I also get the feeling you’re…” She pursed her lips.“Naïve?”Before I could comment, she waved off the thought.“No, that you were sheltered.”

Since we’d barely spent twenty minutes in each other’s company, I couldn’t see how she might possibly know this.

Unless Jeremy said something.Which maybe should’ve disconcerted me, but I was feeling oddly comforted that he cared enough about me to discuss me with his sister.I didn’t have siblings—I didn’t understand the bond.What I did like was the idea Jeremy had someone in his life in whom he could confide.Talk through his problems.Bicker gently.Being an only child, I’d missed all that.“Maybe sheltered is the right word.I’m not offended, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

She held my gaze for a moment longer before returning her attention to the chicken.“Well, I’m more worried about you.Jeremy hasn’t been a manwhore, but he hasn’t been a saint either.He’s been around the block a few times.”

Maybe this is a touch more than I need to know?On the other hand, I was intensely curious.So I held my tongue.

“He’s never, not in the thirty years since he came out to me, talked about someone the way he talks about you.”She rotated the chicken one hundred and eighty degrees and then started slicing again.“And I don’t want to speak out of turn.”She held herself still for a moment.“Oh hell—when has that ever stopped me?”She laughed.“I just want to make sure you’re okay.And that you know you can come to talk to me if Jeremy gets to be too much.Because I get it.If you need to talk to someone about it all?—”

“I have a psychiatrist.”

That stopped her.She met my gaze.“Oh?”

“Dr.Martin.”Because why not vomit out everything?Regardless of my status with her brother, I felt she had the right to know.

“Xavier’s a good man.His daughter Rochelle has babysat for me a couple of times.They’re a fantastic family.Super happy.Which, after everything that happened, wasn’t a guarantee.Zed, Xavier’s husband, is also a really special guy.Newer to town, but fit right in.”She nodded.“Getting help from an expert is a good thing.And here I am…presuming you’re gay.Or bi.Or…something.”

I actually laughed.“Gay, Marcie.Just gay.”

“Well, okay, then.”She resumed slicing.

“I care about Jeremy.”I fingered the napkin.

She kept slicing.

“But…I don’t know.I’ve been in town just over a week.The house I was living in just burned down.I should feel something, right?Not be so overwhelmed that I’m just shutting down.”

“Oh, hun.”She laid the knife and fork on the plate and headed my way.She sat at the table next to me and grasped my hand.

I hadn’t invited her to…but I also welcomed the touch.

Perhaps she sensed that.She squeezed my hand.“I’m sure Dr.Martin would tell you that you’re allowed to feel everything right now.Or nothing, if that’s where your mind goes.And maybe I shouldn’t have brought up this topic.”She regarded me.“Just that Jeremy’s not always the best at communicating his feelings.I’m not telling you that you have to like my brother, and I’m not warning you away from him, either.I guess I’m trying to tell you that he’s into you but it’s okay if you’re not into him.He’s, like, way older than you.”

“Yeah.”Nothing I hadn’t already figured out for myself.“And way more…you know…”

She cocked her head.

I rolled my eyes.“Attractive?Handsome?Sexy?”

She arched an eyebrow.